Dept braces up to meet water shortage
Chandigarh, April 9
Though water woes come piggybacked with summer blues, the Haryana public health department has devised an action plan as part of its summer preparedness exercise. Besides identifying villages likely to suffer from water scarcity and setting up control rooms across the state to tackle water problems, the department, for the first time, has authorised its field staff to hire generators to ensure uninterrupted supply even if power decides to play truant.

Surjewala wants Rs 200 as bonus on wheat
Chandigarh, April 9
Slamming union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar for ruling out the possibility of bonus on wheat, chairman of the All-India Kisan Khet Mazdoor Congress Shamsher Singh Surjewala has demanded a bonus of Rs 200 per quintal as relief for the farming community over and above Rs 1,000.

Tribune ExclusiveOld-age pension survey under scanner
Number of beneficiaries swellsPanipat, April 9
After the BPL survey, now it is the official assessment of old-age allowance beneficiaries that has run into a controversy.

Project for supply of potable water approved
New Delhi, April 9
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has approved a public-private community partnership project for supply of purified safe drinking water in 100 such villages of the state where there is chemical contamination in surface and ground water.

CM to lay stone of dam
Chandigarh, April 9
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda will lay the foundation stone of the Koshlaya Dam in the Pinjore block of Panchkula district on
April 13. Stating this here today, an official spokesman said Rs 118 crore would be spent on the project.

Abetment to SuicideProbe medical record to check suicidal tendencies: HC
Chandigarh, April 9
In a significant ruling expected to go a long way in preventing implications in abetment to suicide cases, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has called upon the investigating agencies to go through the medical record of the person ending life, besides recording statements of neighbours or relations on his behaviour and orientation.

High CourtNotice to Haryana in Ruchika case
Chandigarh, April 9
On a petition filed by Haryana’s former DGP S.P.S. Rathore for modifying or quashing portions of an order by the CBI Special Court at Patiala in the Ruchika molestation case, Justice Rajesh Bindal of the high court today issued a notice of motion to Haryana state for April 24.

Land FraudNaib tehsildar among nine booked
Jind, April 9
Nine persons, including a naib tehsildar, have been booked under various sections of the IPC in connection with a land fraud in the district.
The case has been registered on the directions of the local court. No arrests have been made so far.

DDPO’s car stolen from high-security area
Sonepat, April 9
Even after more than 24 hours of the incident of theft of a government jeep of district development and panchayat officer Sultan Singh from his official residence around 2 am yesterday, there has been no trace of the vehicle as well as of the culprits involved in the theft.

11-yr-old raped by 2
Fatehabad, April 9
An 11-year-old daughter of a farm labourer was raped by two persons in Mohamadpur Sottar village yesterday while her parents had gone to the fields for harvesting wheat.

Dowry DeathNewly married woman dies, husband held
Gurgaon, April 9
A newly married woman hailing from Pathankot died at her Gurgaon residence here today allegedly due to persistent demands for dowry by her husband and in-laws.
Following a complaint by her father, the police took the deceased’s husband and their servant into custody.

Robber gets 7-year jail
Kaithal, April 9
Krishan Prajapat, a resident of Deoban village near here, was sentenced to seven-year rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 10,000 by the court of Additional Session Judge Neelima Shangla here today after holding him guilty in a robbery case of March 2005.

Bungling in job scheme: BJYM
Rohtak, April 9
The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) has alleged that the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) was being used as a means to siphon off central government funds in Haryana.

Secretariat to go online
Chandigarh, April 9
The functioning of the Haryana civil secretariat will soon be online and the system of centralised files will be introduced to improve transparency and efficiency in the working of the state government.

Pvt schools told to provide fee details
Yamunanagar, April 9
The district education officer has asked all private schools of the district to provide details of fees collected from students.
The order assumes significance in wake of three incidents where parents had objected to fee hike by many schools.

Street plays to battle foeticide
Karnal, April 9
To make village folks aware about the menace of female foeticide, various theatre groups under the aegis of the National School of Drama, Delhi, will stage street plays in villages of Haryana, which are severely hit by a declining sex ratio.

More trauma centres to be set up
Chandigarh, April 9
To provide proper medical care to accident victims, the Haryana Health Department is expanding the network of trauma centres in the state.
Haryana health minister Kartar Devi said a new trauma centre had been constructed on the premises of the General Hospital,
Sirsa.

Chandigarh, April 9
Though water woes come piggybacked with summer blues, the Haryana public health department has devised an action plan as part of its summer preparedness exercise. Besides identifying villages likely to suffer from water scarcity and setting up control rooms across the state to tackle water problems, the department, for the first time, has authorised its field staff to hire generators to ensure uninterrupted supply even if power decides to play truant.

“Since disruption of power frequently interfered with the water supply timings, causing inconvenience to the public, we have directed our field staff to hire generators to tide over this problem. In remote and large villages, we plan to experiment with mobile generators. We are hoping that this arrangement will take care of most of the complaints of water problem reported from various districts,” says Samir Mathur, secretary, public health.

Since villages at the tail-end of the canal system are more vulnerable to paucity of water and there is a looming danger of the water level in reservoirs going down this season, the department has made special arrangements to ensure that such villages are not deprived of their share of water.

With a number of areas, including Mewat, Mahendragarh and Jhajjar, traditionally dependent on groundwater, the department has asked all its 45 divisions to keep a contingency plan ready to meet water shortage. “There are areas where the water is saline or has high fluoride content or is hard water and the problem is endemic to certain areas. We have got canal-based water to these areas wherever it was possible and we can transport water over a distance of 5 km where water from a tubewell is good. For any additional requirement, we have our tankers,” engineer-in-chief Ashok Kheterpal said. Canal water will be supplemented by installing additional shallow tubewells or activating the existing ones.

Having identified 502 villages all over the state which could suffer from water shortage this summer, the department has attempted to decentralise its water system by mobilising tankers.

“We have prepared route charts for tankers so that every village at least gets its supply of drinking water on any given day. Mahendragarh district has 85 villages likely to suffer from water scarcity, there are 75 in Bhiwani while others are spread over the entire state. We have set up a master control room the public can contact at 0172-2566393, 2560237 where two officers will be available from 7 am to 10 pm to deal with public grievances pertaining to water. We also intend to set up control rooms in each division and give mobiles to the field staff so that they are within contact,” Khetarpal explained.

Chandigarh, April 9
Slamming union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar for ruling out the possibility of bonus on wheat, chairman of the All-India Kisan Khet Mazdoor Congress Shamsher Singh Surjewala has demanded a bonus of Rs 200 per quintal as relief for the farming community over and above Rs 1,000.

“The agriculture minister and his ministry need to be more sensitive to the needs of the farmers. He chose the wrong time and the wrong place to reject the possibility of a bonus since the farmer is already at the receiving end on account of failed winter rain and the recent hailstorm in many parts of the region,” Surjewala said at a press conference here today.

Maintaining that there was nearly 20 per cent damage to standing crop due to the rain and the hailstorm, he said Pawar’s statement was contrary to the expectations of farmers seeking relief.

“Pawar’s statement seems to be his personal opinion and not that of the cabinet. I have written to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to consider hiking the minimum support price from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,200. We have also decided to go and meet the UPA chairperson with a delegation of farmers to put across their point of view,” he said.

With prices of essential commodities touching a new high, Surjewala said the rates of inputs in agriculture, including diesel and pesticides, had gone up. “The farmer is not untouched by the rising prices and deserves relief for more reasons than one. Since our chairperson has always backed the demands of the farming community, I am hopeful this hike in the MSP will also come through,” he claimed. He demanded that landless labour and allied activities in the field of agriculture like poultry and dairy farmers, artisans, including carpenters and blacksmiths, who make farm instruments, should also be considered for the loan waiver.

He said the Khet Mazdoor Congress was chalking out a plan to hold conventions in each district of the country. “Through these conventions, we want to dispel doubts about the Rs 60,000 crore loan waiver announced by the centre for small and marginal farmers. We also want to educate the farmers about the employment guarantee scheme so that the maximum number of farmers can be benefit,” he explained.

Putting forward a strong case for crop insurance, Surjewala said this was the only way to tackle the vagaries of the weather, which damaged the crop. “There is a pilot project going on in some districts of the country, but that is confined to crop loans only. We want complete insurance cover for the crops,” he asserted.

Panipat, April 9
After the BPL survey, now it is the official assessment of old-age allowance beneficiaries that has run into a controversy.

Also, serious questions have been raised over the functioning of government agencies involved in the exercise where ineligible candidates allegedly managed to get themselves registered with the state government to avail of sops meant for the poor.

After the department of social justice and empowerment detected “abnormality” due to the enormous rise in the number of beneficiaries, it has directed all district heads to re-examine the details of the new entrants by next week.

In a survey conducted throughout the state last year, the number of beneficiaries of the monthly pension of Rs 300 rose by 36 per cent.

In a letter written by A.K. Yadav, director, social justice and empowerment, a copy of which is with The Tribune, the department maintained that the figures in the latest survey report were “more than expected” as in previous years there was an increase of about 17 per cent in the number of old-age pension recipients.

Sources admit that driven by the lure for money, several eligible candidates are often “replaced” by unscrupulous elements for different welfare schemes.

According to the existing list, there are 10,20,306 old-age beneficiaries in the state and the latest survey has added 2,44,868 more names to it.

With 75,738 old-age pensioners, Bhiwani tops the list whereas Panchkula is listed at the bottom with just 15,018 names.

In the survey conducted in November and December last, Mewat witnessed the maximum rise in the number of senior citizens at 36.01 per cent (from 44,237 to 60,167) whereas Rohtak was last in the list with a growth of 17.28 per cent “elderly” population.

Now, Bhiwani has added the maximum 19,987 persons to its list in the “disputed” survey.

Of the 20 districts, there are 16 where the number of new beneficiaries has risen to 20 per cent or more.

The survey was conducted by district social welfare officers along with members from the district administration and the health department.

Now, the administration has deputed various teams to recheck the new entrants and ensure that no deserving candidates are left out.

With the deadline of accomplishing the exercise ending on April 15, deputy commissioners have been asked to speed up the work of re-examining the list and submitting the final report by April 20 to the director.

New Delhi, April 9
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has approved a public-private community partnership project for supply of purified safe drinking water in 100 such villages of the state where there is chemical contamination in surface and ground water.

The safe drinking water will be supplied at villagers’ doorsteps on nominal charges. The approval was granted during his meeting with two representatives of the Naandi Foundation and Tata Projects Ltd here last evening.

The Chief Minister asked the officers participating in the meeting to hand over a list of 100 such villages in the first phase and to complete other formalities like installation of tubewells at the earliest.

Hooda said the project had been approved in order to fulfil the state government’s commitment to supply safe drinking water to every citizen of the state.

Moreover, he pointed out that there were many villages in the state, which had high degree of chemical contamination in their ground water due to presence of fluoride, nitrate and arsenic, which could lead to various diseases.

In the meeting, the representatives explained that it would be tripartite partnership between the government/panchayat, Naandi Foundation and Tata Projects Ltd, in which the first party would provide water source, land, capital cost and permit Naandi to supply safe drinking water.

Chandigarh, April 9
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda will lay the foundation stone of the Koshlaya Dam in the Pinjore block of Panchkula district on
April 13.

Stating this here today, an official spokesman said Rs 118 crore would be spent on the project. This urban dam would be 1,125 metres long and 34 metres high and would be first of its kind in Haryana. The irrigation department would construct the dam.

He said the main objective of the construction of this dam was to supply sufficient water to the residents of
Panchkula. The dam would also be used for fish farming and developed as a tourist spot. The dam would also be utilised for the drainage of flood water of the adjoining villages of the district. The construction of the dam would provide job opportunities to the people of the area.

Chandigarh, April 9
In a significant ruling expected to go a long way in preventing implications in abetment to suicide cases, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has called upon the investigating agencies to go through the medical record of the person ending life, besides recording statements of neighbours or relations on his behaviour and orientation.

Accepting two related appeals against conviction orders in an abetment to suicide case, Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia ruled: “Each and every case of suicide is not necessarily a result of abetment. Right from the day when a human being was born, suicides have been committed.

“In the present days, a convenient mode has been adopted by the relations and the investigating agency to name accused as abettors in each case of suicide. It is incumbent upon the investigating officer and the person carrying out inquest proceedings to find out, especially when the person who committed suicide is a male, his previous medical record and history of his behaviour a few days before the suicide.

“The statements of neighbours or relations regarding his behaviour, orientation or manner of interaction a few days before the occurrence, should be recorded, before report under Section 173 CrPC is submitted.”

The ruling comes on an appeal filed by Shunti, alias Raja, and three others challenging the orders of Jagadhari’s Additional Sessions Judge convicting and sentencing them to undergo rigorous imprisonment for five years under Section 306 of the IPC.

The FIR in the matter was lodged by Darshana Devi. She had alleged matrimonial discord between her son Ashok Kumar and his wife Rajni. It was alleged that Ashok Kumar eventually consumed poison.

After analysing the evidence, Justice Ahluwalia ruled: “The defence took the gamble to ask a pointed question to Darshana Devi whether her other son Joginder Singh had committed suicide. She answered in affirmative that he had died due to burns. A foundation was laid by the defence that suicidal tendencies were prevailing in the family of deceased Ashok Kumar; and he has also committed suicide on account of refusal of his wife to return to matrimonial home. This inference cannot be ruled out.”

Before parting with the orders, the Judge ruled: “No human being is perfect. Follies and the tragic flaws are in each human being. Some suffers from the vice of ambition, some from indecisiveness, some from lust, and some suffers from greed. To say that a spouse should live a chaste life in accordance with the expectations of another and, therefore, if same is not adhered to, another will commit suicide and will make another spouse responsible will be far fetched.

“A gambler, suspicious spouse, smoker, alcoholic or anybody demanding from one spouse to live a life the way prescribed by another spouse, and to say if someone has not followed, another will commit suicide, and offence under Section 306 IPC will be complete, cannot be entertained in law unless or until a simple act is followed by another aggravating act, which compels to commit suicide.”

Chandigarh, April 9
On a petition filed by Haryana’s former DGP S.P.S. Rathore for modifying or quashing portions of an order by the CBI Special Court at Patiala in the Ruchika molestation case, Justice Rajesh Bindal of the high court today issued a notice of motion to Haryana state for April 24.

In the order, the Special Judicial Magistrate had held that objections taken by the defence during the recording of prosecution evidence in the trial would be decided at the last stage in the final judgement. Rathore is facing trial in the case registered under Section 354 of the IPC and the case is scheduled to come up for further hearing on April 15.

Jind, April 9
Nine persons, including a naib tehsildar, have been booked under various sections of the IPC in connection with a land fraud in the district.

The case has been registered on the directions of the local court.

No arrests have been made so far.

According to the complainant, Balbir, a resident of Asan village, some persons, including certain officials of the revenue department, had conspired and colluded to prepare documents to change the ownership of the land owned by him in an illegal manner on January 25.

He said though he took the matter with the officials concerned, he was forced to file a complaint in the local court after the police and authorities concerned failed to take cognisance of the matter.

He claimed that the land measuring 8 kanals and 11 marlas was transferred illegally in the name of two persons identified as Angoori Devi and Santosh Devi, residents of the same village.

He alleged that this was done with full knowledge and cooperation of the officials concerned.

The case has been registered under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 120-B and 34 of the IPC against nine persons, including the naib tehsildar and registry clerk of the local administration.

Sonepat, April 9
Even after more than 24 hours of the incident of theft of a government jeep of district development and panchayat officer (DDPO) Sultan Singh from his official residence around 2 am yesterday, there has been no trace of the vehicle as well as of the culprits involved in the theft.

“Police teams have been deputed to nab the gangsters and a hunt has been launched to trace the jeep,” said SSP Navdeep Singh Virk, hoping that the
culprits would be arrested soon.

The car was parked outside the house in high security residential zone of the local mini-secretariat.

The thieves also tried to decamp with two other cars - one of a home guards officer Vijender Singh and the other of the district revenue officer, but they could not lay their hands as they failed to open the locks of these cars. These residences are also located on the same premises.

The windowpanes of the car were found broken and it is reported to be registered in the name of former Haryana minister Shakuntala Bhagwaria, who is MLA at present from Bawal (reserve) constituency in Haryana, and Vijender Singh is her younger brother.

Interestingly, the official residence of the DDPO is situated adjacent to the official residence of a deputy superintendent of police and the official residences of senior officers of the administration and judiciary, including the District and Sessions Judge, deputy commissioner and the superintendent of police.

Fatehabad, April 9
An 11-year-old daughter of a farm labourer was raped by two persons in Mohamadpur Sottar village yesterday while her parents had gone to the fields for harvesting wheat.

The victim’s father lodged an FIR at the Bhuna police station today in the regard. He alleged that Gurmukh Singh and Balwinder Singh, both from the same village, went to his house yesterday when he and his wife had gone to fields to harvest wheat crops.

They allegedly gagged his daughter and took her to a nearby farmhouse where they allegedly raped her. When he and his wife came back, they found their daughter weeping in bloodstained clothes.

The police has registered a case under sections 376 and 363 of the IPC after a medical examination of the girl confirmed rape. The accused are at large.

Gurgaon, April 9
A newly married woman hailing from Pathankot died at her Gurgaon residence here today allegedly due to persistent demands for dowry by her husband and in-laws.

Following a complaint by her father, the police took the deceased’s husband and their servant into custody. Her Panchkula-based in-laws and two sisters-in-laws have also been booked. The deceased identified as Bhawna Gupta got married to Sameer Gupta of Panchkula in January. The couple had been living in a rented accommodation in Sector 30 here for the past three weeks. Before that, she was staying with her in-laws in Panchkula. Gupta holds a managerial position in a garment export company here.

Gupta informed his in-laws that Bhawna was in a serious condition, but when her parents and brother Pankaj reached here, her body was already taken to the mortuary by the police for postmortem examination.

The police has registered a case under Sections 498-A, 304-B and 120-B of the IPC.

Pankaj alleged that his sister’s husband and in-laws mentally tormented her for bringing insufficient dowry since marriage. He also alleged that his brother-in-law had an affair with another woman. His sister had been repeatedly dissuading her husband to stop this but he continued his relation with the woman.

Kaithal, April 9
Krishan Prajapat, a resident of Deoban village near here, was sentenced to seven-year rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 10,000 by the court of Additional Session Judge Neelima Shangla here today after holding him guilty in a robbery case of March 2005.

The convict, along with his accomplice, had robbed Rs 3,15,500 at gunpoint from a patwari and kanungo which they were carrying for distribution as old-age pension in the village.

Satish Kumar, patwari, and Suraj Bhan, kanungo, were handed over Rs 3,15,500 by naib tehsildar Suresh Kumar to be distributed among old-age pensioners of Batta village in Kalayat subtehsil.

When the officials, carrying the cash in a bag, reached near Rehrian village on their scooter, two youths on a motorcycle took out a pistol and snatched the cash and mobiles from the officials and fled the spot.

Following investigation, the police arrested Krishan Kumar on a charge of robbery and he was put on trial. After hearing arguments put forth by the prosecution and the defence, the court held Krishan guilty and sentenced him.

His accomplice, who did not appear in the court, was declared a proclaimed offender.

Rohtak, April 9
The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) has alleged that the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) was being used as a means to siphon off central government funds in Haryana.

Addressing a news conference here today, Jawahar Yadav, the newly elected president of the state chapter of the BJYM, maintained that big money was being drawn from the central funds in the name of the scheme by producing fake bills.

”We will seek complete information through the Right to Information Act to expose the irregularities in the implementation of the NREGS in the state,” Yadav asserted on being asked what the BJYM’s course of action would be.

Expressing concern over the skyrocketing prices of various commodities, the youth leader said that the BJYM would stage demonstrations at Mahendragarh, Ambala and Sonepat to register their protest over the issue. Describing rising unemployment as the biggest challenge before the youth of the state, Yadav said the BJYM would accord top priority to this aspect. “Traditional degrees have little worth in today’s job market,” he said, adding that changing the education system to suit the present requirements and setting up small-scale agro-based industries were the need of the hour.

Chandigarh, April 9
The functioning of the Haryana civil secretariat will soon be online and the system of centralised files will be introduced to improve transparency and efficiency in the working of the state government.

This was disclosed by Deepak Bansal, technical director, National Informatics Centre (NIC), Haryana, here today. He said after the implementation of the centralised file system, the files would be online and it would help in checking delays. At present, about 2,000 files were being put up in the Haryana civil secretariat daily by officials. While under the present system, it takes about a week to clear the files, the new online system would make their disposal quick.

Yamunanagar, April 9
The district education officer has asked all private schools of the district to provide details of fees collected from students.

The order assumes significance in wake of three incidents where parents had objected to fee hike by many schools.

As per sources in the education department, the details had to be provided in a specified format. The schools had to provide information on the amount of fee collected monthly and annually from students of each class. School managements had also been asked to provide details of funds collected from students.

There are 236 private schools in the district and only 26 are recognised.

Sources in the department said the information collected from the schools would be forwarded to the deputy commissioner.

Delhi Public School, Lotus Valley Public School and S.D. Public School had hiked school fees but the latter two rolled back the hike after parents protested against the hike. An official of the department said action would be taken against the schools if they failed to provide information.

Karnal, April 9
To make village folks aware about the menace of female foeticide, various theatre groups under the aegis of the National School of Drama, Delhi, will stage street plays in villages of Haryana, which are severely hit by a declining sex ratio.

The programme being run at the behest of the health and women and child development departments is targeting 500 villages in Haryana by the end of this month.

Haryana women and child development special secretary S.S. Prasad said the programme had been taken up after the successful completion of such a programme by the central government in Shababad block.
— UNI

Chandigarh, April 9
To provide proper medical care to accident victims, the Haryana Health Department is expanding the network of trauma centres in the state.

Haryana health minister Kartar Devi said a new trauma centre had been constructed on the premises of the General Hospital, Sirsa, and the buildings for three more trauma centres were under construction at Rewari, Ambala and Yamunanagar.

She said the trauma centre of Sirsa had been constructed at a cost of over Rs 1.59 crore. Out of that amount Rs 63 lakh had been provided by the central government and the rest by the state government.

It would be inaugurated by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on
April 12. — UNI